Return trip

I'm back in Kansas now. Currently I am in a blissful state of relaxation. The trip is over. I have more time to myself when I'm not working (a mixed blessing). I'm getting my body clock readjusted to Central Time (versus Pacific).

I hear the birds outside and I have some Seattle's Best brewing in the Krups. Life is OK right now.

The plane ride back to Denver was pleasant. Not too full, just about right. The way a Sunday morning flight should be. Not like this. I got to the airport much earlier this time, got the bag checked and cleared security in under 10 minutes.

The rest of the time I spent browsing the Internet and sipping a Starbucks. (About as close to an urbanite as I will be.)

Flight is smooth, nary a bump. Get off plane, call wife, stop at Seattle's Best for another refreshing dose of hot bean juice. Walk casually over to the baggage claim, my suitcase is already on the carousel. Retrieve it, walk out to the curb, and the shuttle bus arrives almost as if on cue.

Does it get any more effortless than that?

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Walking through the Denver airport I begin thinking about one of the many transitions taking place currently. For the past nine years, Sky Harbor has been our jumping-off point and arrival destination for numerous trips (even more for Geogal since she does travel occasionally for her work). Sojourns to Texas, Hawaii, Oregon, Alaska, Illinois, Georgia, Louisiana, and yes, Colorado.

Time to say goodbye to PHX. I have a feeling that Denver International will be the airport of choice for the most part, unless we are flying east. Then we might opt for Kansas City.

Now we will have to be concerned with snow and ice. It's easy to forget just how spoiled one can be after living in the Arizona desert for so long.

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I tend to have a stiff neck once I get off a plane.

I can't help it. I have such an interest in geography that it's nearly impossible for me to fly and not look out the window constantly to orient myself. Of course, if it's nighttime, if there are heavy clouds, or if we are over water than that's a different story. But for the most part my air travel happens in the southwest. Just yesterday I could pick out the San Francisco Peaks, Winslow, Shiprock, Farmington, Durango, and the distant skyscrapers of downtown Denver
--then I knew we were getting close. Until we turn due north and stay in that direction for some time. (At one point I thought we would be landing in Cheyenne--then the plane turned 180 degrees and I knew we were approaching DIA from the north.)

That is one thing I always will enjoy about air travel. Seeing God's creation from 38,000 feet is sometimes a vista of true beauty. Particularly when one flies over the Rockies and the snow-covered terrain looks so unspoiled.

Sometimes it's almost a shame to be back on the ground and in freeway traffic.

Closure

Took the keys off my keychain.

Packing, getting ready to catch the plane in the morning.

One last opportunity to catch some Arizona rays with Geogal. Sit by pool, sit in spa. Return home feeling slightly warm.

This morning, Geogal is quiet, moody. I ask what is wrong. Her answer: "I just want this house empty and the check in my hand."

Ah, moving.

I'm headed back to Kansas. But Geogal and little Geoana don't come with me. Not this time.

But soon....

Already getting the new owner's mail in the box. That's a good sign things are moving forward, according to our agent.

I'll be heading back to my lonely (when I'm not at work) state, but this time I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

June 17. Got a countdown going.

But for tonight I spend my last night in this house. Tomorrow I leave it forever.

Goodbye, land of the Sonoran Desert, hello High Plains.

A Happy Wait

Here I am at DIA, killing some time before the flight.

Scratch that, I'm not killing time, I'm just making some 21st Century use of it.

The last time I was here I had difficulty getting onto the airport's free wifi. (Difficulty? I couldn't get on at all!)

No problem this time. I wonder if they were just having some technical problems some weeks ago. Anyhoo, being able to be online and listen to my iTunes makes the wait go smooth. Plus, I have a book at the ready for when I board the jet. (I don't listen to the iPod in the air anymore. Not until I invest in some noise-cancelling headphones.)

My five-hour-300-mile drive this morning wasn't bad. Sure beats the last time where I was battling gale-force wind and frigid temps, all while trying not to stare at the snowdrifts on the side of the interstate. And trying to put the sight of an 18-wheeler on its side near Goodland out of my mind.

I started early. Really early. Dark early. Didn't encounter any other vehicles for the first hour or so (save for one big rig). In that part of Kansas I learned that if one drives at an early hour, beware of deer. I saw several, fortunately none of them decided to run out in front of me.

I also learned other things on this venture. Colby is a good place to eat breakfast. A few weeks can make a real difference in the weather (see two paragraphs above). Coffee is still my best friend in the morning. And it's easy to dissociate on the stretch of I-70 between Burlington and Limon.

No kidding. I was rather out of it. Maybe my lack of sleep catching up with me. Nappy time! No! No! Not behind the wheel! Save it for later, Geoguy, when you're buckled into your Southwest Airlines seat. Maybe the drone of the engines will put me out.

Obviously I kept my state of alertness at the normal level. However that truck stop coffee, courtesy of the Flying J in Limon helped restore my mood and energy.

That's all for now. Time to wrap this up and surf some other sites. Next post will be from sunny Arizona.

Verdant

I'm eating in a local restaurant this evening. I look out the window, and holy moley!

I see green. Lots of it.

(Not that kind of green.)

This is the part of town close to Prairie Dog Creek. Last time I was over here the trees were bare and gray. Not now. Spring is doing its thing.

As a former desert dweller the greenery is still a novelty to me. Never mind, I'm getting the camera. Now I'll stop the narrative and just let the pictures do the telling.

Igniting an ancient desire

I won't make any argument about the effect of environment and culture on a person.

Take me, for example. For years I joked about how I could never hunt. Not that I had any "sissy-man" objection to killing animals. Rather, it was me making fun of my inherited tremors which result in my hands shaking almost constantly. Made exponentially worse by my caffeine intake at any given time. Taking the humor to its logical conclusion I always would comment about my clumsy nature combined with being unable to hold anything steady meant I should never even get near a firearm.

But wait. Now I'm in northwest Kansas, noted for its abundance of pheasant.

And Geodad already has said I am welcome to have his shotgun.

Do I see myself decked out in camouflage this fall?

Most likely yes.

What's fueling this desire to aim birdshot in the direction of fowl is not only the effect of encountering numerous guys (and no doubt some women, too) who hunt the birds but also having no family life at present. This leaves me no real social options during the evenings, so I've been watching the idiot box. Although I cannot stand just about all of the major network programming I do have some cable channels from which to choose. The Outdoor Channel offers a huge selection of hunting programs.

Jeff Foxworthy has a routine about watching fishing shows. Hunting shows are almost as mesmerizing.

Of course, one thing I learn from these shows is that to be a hunter one must have a lot of patience. Given my restless and borderline-hyperactive nature I'll have a tough time waiting, but I think the outdoors experience might just make up for the lengthy inaction.

We'll see. Come fall I might just have a post about bagging a pheasant. I hear they are good eatin'.

Over the Sunday morning coffee

For the past few weeks I've been jotting down different things regarding my transition to small-town life.

And it's small-town life in a small town that a colleague of mine described as "five hours from anywhere."

Since I arrived here in late March, the most-often question I am asked by the folks from Arizona way is: "How is life in that little town?" Often followed by: "How's the weather?" (Answer--right now it is at the freezing mark, with a wind chill of 24 degrees. But the sky is beautiful clear, and it's supposed to hit the mid-70s today.)

I decided now is as good a time as any to provide the answer. I got up early this a.m., did some laundry, and am now enjoying a cup of coffee while a turkey hunting show is on the Versus channel. (I'll blog more about this subject in a different entry.)

My adjustment to this way of life continues to develop. From area-wide power outages that are caused by raccoons (according to the local paper) to church bells that toll hymns at a certain time of day, going from an urban area to a town of 3,000 is, in a word, interesting.

There is a lot of check-writing here. Geogal and I moved away from using the checkbook save for mailing off bill payments several years ago. Folks around here even write checks at restaurants. As for us, we will stick to cash and the debit card.

TV weather forecasters in Kansas use the term "east (or west) of the turnpike." Regarding severe weather so far I've drawn the long straw, as the eastern part of the state seems to have more alerts, warnings, and get-to-shelter admonishments. Some of the locals also tell me that the eastern half of Kansas tends to have more tornadoes then these parts. However the possibility of twisters still is evident. Just about all houses have basements and I already have been through my first tornado watch. (Turns out the thing hit about 35 miles south of here.)

Relaxing and reading the newspaper? Forget it. Remember when I wondered about which papers may circulate out here? Turns out none of those do. The daily periodical most available is the Salina Journal, which is not anywhere close to a thick or loaded paper. The only big-city one around here is the Omaha World-Herald, which varies in its availability (sometimes those vending machines are stocked, sometimes they're not). Speaking of which, these two only come in the racks that require change, so if all you have is the green currency you won't have newsprint on your fingers.

There are no "Ron Paul for President" signs around here. They were friggin' near ubiquitous in the Phoenix area.

You wave at people when you drive. Doesn't matter if you know them or not. And since I drive a pickup, if I encounter a truck with a male behind the wheel, that's an automatic two or three-finger wave.

On the highways, Kansas drivers tend to wave back more than the folks in Nebraska or Colorado.

That's all for now. To sum it up, I want to buy the Little Big Town song "Boondocks" from iTunes. Once you hear the lyrics, you'll understand the culture here just a little better.

Freezing and sweating

Question: When you are looking at your local area radar map on The Weather Channel site, how do you react when you see a large area in blue, and blue is not on their color key?

That actually happened yesterday afternoon. It wasn't far from quitting time and unpleasant meteorological conditions abounded outside. I checked the Weather Channel's site to glance at the local conditions. Let's see, according to the color key shades of green indicate rain, pink to red is any mixture of rain, sleet, and snow (translation: ice), and snow is represented by gray scales.

Just to our west, and headed in the direction of Norton, was a large area of...blue!

Did this signify the Apocalypse?

Turns out no, it in fact was snow. Apparently the nerds manning TWC's Net deal neglected to update that particular map. This was confirmed by a later check of the radar, with blue clearly explained.

Oh well. Still makes for a humorous blog entry. Not too much else was funny about last night. I saw plenty of the white stuff falling from the sky yesterday evening, but it was a wet and quick-moving weather system, so there was no snow accumulation. No snow-covered truck picture this time. However, the weather service still felt it necessary to issue a snow and blowing snow advisory. And the wind WAS wicked. I think the wind chill temp was down in the 20s. (I can still hear my colleagues saying: "Welcome to Kansas, Geoguy!" while they grin.)

At least I wasn't driving to the Denver airport.

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I'm taking care of myself. I just joined a (pause), a......hmmmm.

How do you describe it? It's not a full-fledged gym, not really a health club. Just a small business where I can utilize their exercise machines, free weights, etc.

The small-town version of a fitness club.

And don't misunderstand me. I'm glad it's here. Both Geogal and I were aware of the lack of a YMCA in a town this size. But at least there's someplace to work out.

And since I returned to a regular exercise regimen, my mind and body are thanking me.

Slowly, I am creeping back to normality after a major life upheaval.

More wandering

I didn't post about my sojourn to Salina, Kansas, mainly because there's just not much to say. I enjoyed the drive! And the topography of central Kansas reminds me a lot of the area of Texas from where my family hails (San Antonio-Austin).

Come to think of it, those places are about the same longitude.

Yesterday I took another lengthy drive, this time into the Only State In The Nation With A Unicameral Legislature. I chose to take the long way to Grand Island, taking U.S. 36 all the way past Smith Center before turning north. Why this route? Two reasons.

One, this was the only direction out of Norton to which I had not yet driven. The highways that approach town from the west, south, and north are now familiar to me. Two, there was something along this route I wanted to visit.

What was it? Click here for the answer.

After I crossed into the Cornhusker State, I noticed an increase in the vegetation and wildlife. Case in point: I was driving along at a reasonable speed and noticed something a little unusual on the right side of the highway.

A wild turkey. He (or she) didn't seem to mind me much.

Immediately afterward, I cross the Republican River and see two deer just right of the highway bridge. Unlike the gobbler, they saw me and made a run for it further down the riverbank.

No wonder so many folks around here enjoy hunting. Hope I get my chance this fall.

Filling in the gaps

Yes, I know it's been over a week since I last posted.

Update: My trip to Chandler was wonderful, albeit a bit short. Sunday morning found Geogal driving me back to the airport. Ever since Southwest Airlines developed their "board by number" regimen I have not felt the urgency to get to the airport way early in order to stake out my place in the "A" line. So I had my two favorite gals accompany me to Sky Harbor.

Pull up to the airport. No problem. After all, it's Sunday morning! Slow time for the airport.

Guess again.

I got suspicious when there seemed to be a whole lot of vehicles at the drop-off area. We finally make our way to the area where I will need to exit. I say my goodbyes, grab my bags, and ignore the long line of folks at the skycap check-in. After all, I'm handling my own bag, it's just one suitcase, no need to do this at the curb.

I head inside the terminal to the baggage check area.

And I nearly defecate a building material.

People everywhere. Southwest's baggage check line is one of the longest I've seen. While it moves along at a good pace I still end up checking my baggage after the 45 minute window before boarding has passed. I see my suitcase get tagged with a yellow "Late Check In" tag, almost as if its a modern-day scarlet letter.

OK, that's done. Wait, I still have to go through security.

I run, yes run, to my gate area, see the long line of people awaiting the indignity to fight terrorism. Heart sinks. Time is passing, and this line ain't moving too fast.

Trudge along. Where did all these people come from? Am I in some weird time warp worthy of the Sci Fi Channel, where it is now actually Monday morning?

No. I strike up a conversation with the fellow in front of me. Turns out there was a NASCAR race at Phoenix International Raceway the day before and now everyone is trying to get home, back East.

The line still isn't moving at a good clip. I am nearly in panic mode. I've never missed a plane before. Haven't even come close. Today might make up for all that. I think of the serenity prayer used by those in 12-Step groups. While I am not a recovering alcoholic or drug addict, the short discourse can be useful in almost any troublesome situation.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

I ask God for serenity, because I sure can't control or change this predicament.

Then He shows His mercy. A Southwest agent begins heading up the edge of the velvet rope, shouting my flight number. I show him my boarding pass, he lets me out of the line and points me to a different security checkpoint.

I get through in less than three minutes.

Then I run for the gate. (All of this airport running reminds me of those old Hertz commercials featuring O.J. Simpson.)

Wait, something's odd here. The gate number written on my ticket looks nearly deserted. I check the TV screen. It's not gate C18, it's C19!!

And they are already boarding.

Thanks to my "A" pass, I get into line in front of the B's and C's. (Hey, checking in early online has its advantages.) But before I head into the jetway I have to confirm this plane is heading to Denver. It is.

I snag a window seat. Cool. My heart rate and respiration are returning to normal. And before we leave the gate, I see another load of luggage ready for loading. I spot my suitcase, replete with that danged yellow tag.

It's on the plane. Now I really rest easy.

The remainder of my day is not noteworthy for anything. I rejoice upon seeing my truck in the long-term parking lot of DIA. It starts right up.

I really breathe easy. Call Geogal to tell her everything's OK.

I'm going back to my old habit of arriving at airports WAAY early for my flight. I can always read or listen to the iPod.

Home, feeling like a visitor

Yesterday morning started out cold, windy, wet, gray, with some snow.

This morning, temps in the 60's, forecast high will be upper 80's, maybe near 90.

That's what driving 300 miles and flying for two hours will get you.

I'm back home, sort of, in Chandler today. I won't go into detail here, but feeling like a guest in one's own home is incredibly surreal. Especially when you barely recognize the place.

One thought I will share: During the slow descent into Sky Harbor yesterday evening, I looked out the window and noticed a ribbon of highway, heavily traveled (headlights are easily visible, even at an altitude of over 20,000 feet).

I immediately identify it: The Beeline Highway. State Route 87, from Mesa to Payson.

That was the first leg of a journey to Kansas. The start of that trip seemed long, long ago. In actuality, it was a little over three weeks ago.

I must be really tired. Today will be a full day, but I have hope it will be restful as well.

Basketball-crazed

Driving around this northwest Kansas town, I notice many folks choose to proclaim their allegiance to their alma mater by some matter of front yard decoration. KU, Kansas State, and Nebraska all have their following here with a numerical edge to the KSU Wildcats.

But this weekend it seems everyone here is a Jayhawk.

Go Kansas!

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I posted a new photo-enhanced blog entry on my sister site. Click on "Breaking In The Truck."

I will do one more Arizona-themed posting with pics, then the blog will focus on Kansas living.

Time to make the changes

Yes, I changed the title (it's hard to comment on things Arizona when you've left the state).

Depending on when the urge hits me, I also will change the overall look of the blog. Evidently there are ways to make the thing more visually appealing. (For example, look at this one I found when I did a Web search to ensure no one else was using the Bucolic Blogger moniker.)

Everyone is asking me about adjusting to a small town, since I moved here from an urban area of over 3 million inhabitants.

The short answer is: "Mostly OK."

I'm not a sophisticated urbanite, not one who quaffs Starbucks products daily, not one who regularly attends symphonies or ballets, not one who is the first to try the latest bistro.

In other words, I am definitely not a male version of the "Sex and the City" characters.

So in that sense my arriving in this area is not jarring. In fact it seems even more fitting to listen to channel 62 on my Sirius radio (The Roadhouse). Classic country. This is one of my favorite presets on the Sirius tuner, but driving in Scottsdale and listening to Hank Williams always seemed an odd combination.

In fact, I didn't think this was possible, but I appear to be adjusting to the cold temps! I just have to remember to dress in layers and warm up my vehicle before heading out for the day. (Having a non-ending supply of coffee at work doesn't hurt either.)

One last thing of note: I have tried two different churches in the two weeks I have been here. Over this past week I had two colleagues point out they saw me at church last Sunday. Not only that, but two others recommended I try another church this coming Sunday. (Know this-- that previous sentence does not have a negative connotation despite how it's written.)

How cool is that?

I have to admit I do miss some things. I'll save that for another post. Time for chips and salsa!!

Darkness and catches

A few hours ago (about 3:50 a.m., Central Time, to be exact) I am in a halfway state between being awake and asleep. At that time of the morning that's not unusual for me. The fan is humming away (I like to sleep with white noise). Then silence.

A few moments, then I'm fully awake.

It's not only quiet, it's very dark.

Then my mind begins to function. Power outage!

Sure enough. The only source of light in my room comes from the "sleep status" light on my MacBook. Hmmm, I wonder what the view outside my window looks like? Is this a neighborhood thing or is the entire area affected?

Struggle to find my glasses in the dark (took a little time), then slowly and carefully walked to the window (took a little more time, but I didn't crash into anything).

It's dark out there! No moon (yet). The whole town is enveloped in blackness. Somewhat reminiscent of that scene from "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind." Even the red light on top of the water tower is out. The only things with power appear to be the transmission towers south of town, still blinking red.

Anyway, I'm now wide awake and in the dark. And it's cold. What to do now? How about grabbing the (battery-powered) radio and seeing what I can DX?

Let me explain. Trying to pull in distant stations on the AM dial has long been a hobby of mine. Yet I haven't engaged in this activity for many years, mainly due to my move into full adulthood which meant devoting my time to family activities and keeping a household functioning.

But for right now I'm alone in a new town. In an area of the country to which I am new. DX heaven! And having only two truly local signals on the dial is just icing on the cake.

So what do I hear? Some new signals, ones I haven't been able to get doing my early night DXing. Such as WJR from Detroit, plus some west coast signals: KNX, KFI, KNBR. And 620 KTAR, from my old stomping grounds.

Even though I've been listening to stations that I haven't been able to pick up since my days in Houston, I still have yet to catch a couple of "Holy Grail" signals here in western Kansas. One is actually any station from New York. Most likely I would pick up either WABC or WFAN, both nighttime powerhouses. But on 770 (WABC's frequency), I get KKOB from Albuquerque instead. WFAN operates on 660, but that spot on the dial just gives me garbled gibberish. WFAN and KTNN are probably duking it out. I have no hope of getting WCBS, another strong NYC station. You see, I am about 45 to 50 miles (as the crow flies) from the sticks of KRVN, the local blowtorch which operates on the 880 frequency--same as WCBS.

Why New York? Never have caught any of those stations in my many years of DXing. (It doesn't help that I haven't been east of the Mississippi River in over three decades.) I have heard stations from Los Angeles and Chicago, the other two major media markets, so NYC remains a goal for me.

The other desired capture for me would be CKLW from Windsor, Ontario. (Just across the river from Detroit.) Sadly when I tune my radio to 800, I hear XEROK from Ciudad Juarez rather than CKLW. What's significant about this station from the Great White North? A whole lot of history. See here. And listen here.

Speaking of radio, is our local station operating during this blackout? A quick check of both frequencies, and yes, the local AM/FM combo is on. Playing "American Pie." Yeeesh.

I'm glad there's other stuff out there.

What a first day!

I’m not sure of the altitude, but we’re zipping along in the sky.

Wait, scratch that, I just took a glance toward the cockpit, we’re at 18,000 feet.

And it’s my first day on the job.

So what’s the story?

No, I’m not taking flight lessons, nor am I flying commercial. (Pause. Stop writing and close up the computer. We're hitting some turbulence. I am glad Geogal is not here, she'd be freaking out.)

Resume writing. A day later. (Hard at work and exhausted on Monday night.)

I reported to work yesterday and before the afternoon was an hour old I was flying to Colorado with four of my new colleagues. I won't go into details about how all of this came about, let's just say I was in the right place at the right time.

And if Geodad is reading this, I learned the aircraft is a Beechcraft King Air B100.

So I am writing this as I sit in a Denver hotel. Hmmm, wasn't I just here (the city, not the hotel) less than a week ago? Yogi Berra said it best: "It's deja vu all over again."

My only gripe is that I didn't pack my camera. I could have gotten some great pics. (I watched the sun come up over the Colorado horizon this a.m.)

I needed a day of R & R

I meant to do a post yesterday but my body and mind had other ideas.

Yesterday afternoon I did something I haven't done for months--take an afternoon nap. A good move. I also got about 7 hours of sleep last night. That is a significant improvement over the past few nights.

I am enjoying my rested state. Today my wanderlust got the better of me and I headed for Kearney, Nebraska to do some shopping. I think the truck was so thankful to no longer have to pull that trailer that it didn't mind driving into a hard, cold wind.

Incidentally, anyone who thinks this area is flat and treeless has obviously never been here. The rolling prairie sometimes rolls into significant hills and trees abound among the creeks and ponds in the areas. Right now the trees are dormant but I bet in a few weeks they will be a nice shade of green.

Driving east from Denver was not difficult. Plus, it was good to be alone at last! I think my dad and I can probably only tolerate constantly being around each other for no more than two days. Since I had never driven east from Denver before, at least further east than the airport, the newness of the route kept my interest and attention.

Except that for the first few minutes of the "leaving Denver" drive I would look north and see the DIA control tower. A few minutes later, same thing. "Just how far east is the airport?" my inner voice asked. I had visions of being in Burlington (about 12 miles from the Kansas border), looking over my left shoulder, and still seeing the Denver airport!

I did lunch in Burlington. As I was leaving the Burger King, a couple of carloads of teenagers came in, engaging in such discussion as: "Are we still in Colorado?" I'll be glad when spring break is over.

A picture? Why not? How about the Great Platte River Road Archway just east of Kearney? If you saw "About Schmidt," this was where he stopped just before the end of the movie. I chose to not go in during this visit. I'll save that for when I take little Geoana there. She seems to enjoy American history and will love seeing this attraction.

The Big Trip, day three

Made it!

Yes, now I am in the Sunflower State. And I'm really tired. Bone-deep tired. So no detailed posting today. Just relaxation after three long days of driving.

See you tomorrow.

A vast improvement

Ahhh...that’s better.

50,000 times improved from last night.

Geodad and I get to Denver, are able to check in at the hotel with no problem. Their Internet connection works. Their exercise room, pool, and spa are all functional.

The going today also was less stressful than yesterday’s trip starter. You see, yesterday consisted of a LOT of hill-climbing. No problem when you have a decent vehicle. But when you add a large U-Haul trailer and hitch it to the back of your truck, things change. No more going 70 uphill. Try going 40 or even 35. Makes you feel like a big-rig trucker with a full trailer. Except when nearly all the 18-wheelers are passing you going uphill.

But for today, just a few tough hills, not many. Plus today’s route was all interstate which allowed for faster straightaway driving.

But enough about all that. Time for some pics. As alluded in the prior entry, these pictures are all in Colorado. There’s still some patches of snow on the ground, mainly in shady areas. But at one rest area there seemed to be an abundance of the refrozen white stuff. Take a look at one of the pics and you’ll see what appears to be the remnants of someone’s snowman. (Look at the upper portion of that picture for a view of my truck with the trailer attached.)

Two states down, one more to enter. Tomorrow will be the most interesting part of the drive, i.e. unfamiliar territory. Save for a portion of Arizona Highway 87 and Interstate 40 from Winslow to Holbrook, I have previously traveled the roads of this trek. Tomorrow that all changes. Tomorrow also means no significant hills!

The Big Trip, day one

To all readers who were expecting an entry yesterday (first day on the road-kind-of-thing), I apologize, although my Internet absence was not of my doing.

It seemed simple enough--check in at the already-reserved hotel. Nope. I walked through the door and was told there were no more rooms available. This, despite Geogal having made the reservations online several days in advance. No dice. Still nothing available. The guy at the front desk said it was an unforeseen issue handed down by management. Whatever.

Went to the next hotel over and was able to secure a room. But their key-card creator wasn’t working, therefore a staff person would need to let us into the room each time. Whatever.

I ask about the pool/hot tub area. The guy tells me those are “out of order.” Whatever.

Get into room, fire up the Macbook. No ‘Net. No wireless, the Ethernet connection also was dead. Whatever.

It’s already getting late into the evening. I’m tired. Geodad is tired. Walk over to Denny’s (it actually was a good meal), then return to the room, watch a little bit of the idiot box, then fall asleep.

I don’t think I’ll be overnighting in Bernalillo, NM again.

No photos for this entry. There just wasn’t much for me to snap on this leg of the trip. However, for the next set of prose I promise some pictures of beautiful Colorado snow-capped peaks.

Time to go eat then work out, to be followed by a dip in the spa.

No lazy Sunday here

Time’s getting shorter now.

Time to leave, that is. I start the great Kansas expedition in less than two days. For the past few days it seems I am doing nothing but saying goodbye, packing, and doing the few thousand other small things that a relocation requires. Add to this the reality that no matter how well I prepare I will definitely need something during the trip that will require a stop at a Target, Wal-Mart, or hardware store. But that’s OK, I can recognize the fact that this is 2008, not 1908. No covered wagon for this guy.

Some distantly-connected thoughts:

Geogal told me Kansas raises the best beef cattle in the country. This after downing a T-bone steak last night (gotta get in one last round of cooking dead animal over an open flame).

Thank you, Dave, for the great good-bye lunch at Fogo E Brasa. If you are a carnivore, this is your Shangri-La.

Today is Sunday. I wonder what Sunday paper I’ll be reading one week from today. The Kansas City Star? The Wichita Eagle? The Denver Post? Probably not the last one. Something to do with state lines.

The Madness is starting. My team didn’t close the deal last night. At least they played Boise State to three overtimes. Not too shabby, even in a loss.

I’m getting pumped about the road trip. A lot of preparation, but I think the effort will pay off well.

More to come....

Does that mean I can no longer be called Arizona Pundit??

NOTE TO READERS: The following was originally posted on March 1, 2008. I removed it quickly as this post dealt with news of relocating and job changes. At that time not everyone involved knew of these developments and both Geoguy and Geogal decided it was better to tell people ourselves rather than have them learn it from reading the blog.

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You see, I am moving to Kansas fairly soon.

The process leading up to a job offer that will require relocation to the Sunflower State has been the cause of my high stress (alluded to in my previous posting). And now that previous stress is replaced with a new variety of tension.

Yet I'm certain everything will work out OK. And I have to admit I am excited about the prospect of setting down roots in an entirely new place. (Since 1982, I have lived either in Arizona or New Mexico, and always in a desert clime.)

And don't anyone give me guff about Kansas being the middle of nowhere and not on anyone's radar scope. Case in point: I turned on ESPN this morning to catch up on the sports news. Where was College Gameday coming from this date?

Lawrence, Kansas.